Lunches eat up district funds

Susquenita's cafeterias are eating up a lot of cash. Students who won't or can't pay for their lunch are costing the district thousands of dollars.

At their most recent board meeting, school directors heard how the cafeteria system is owed $8,500 in outstanding debts. Superintendent Dan Sheats noted, "I would have total compassion for the people who chose not to pay the bills if our nurses and cashiers had not sent letters to anyone and offered to fill out free and reduced lunch forms.'

He said the district makes telephone calls to parents, often with no result. School policy is to turn debts of more than $100 to the district magisterial judge, but then filing fees make the debt even larger.

Attitude is another obstacle. "We do know that there are students who go through the lunch lines and say, ‘I don't have any money, you have to feed me and there is nothing you can do about it,"' Sheats said.

The district also has instituted a policy of alternative lunches, designed to reduce monetary loss. Students who have a negative balance over a certain amount are given a lunch, the main item being a cheese sandwich. The idea is to reduce loss while still providing a nutritious lunch.

When a previous board created the alternative lunch policy, school directors decided that severely delinquent accounts would be referred to social services, because parents who do not try to feed their children may be neglecting them in other ways.

Sheats said that when they tried to make a referral the agency asserted that they were not a collection agency. "We don't expect them to be a collection agency," said Sheats. "We want them to look into whether these people are capable of feeding their children.

"We're not suggesting kids are at fault. Any parent who doesn't try to feed their children is guilty of neglect.'

Sheats reiterated the district will be more than willing to fill out the free or reduced lunch forms.

The debt shown to the board was broken out by building.

The elementary school is owed $2,495. There are eight students with a negative balance of $50 or more.

The middle school holds the largest debt with $3,068 owed and 15 students with a negative balance of $50 or more.

The high school is owed $2,933 and 12 students have a negative balance of $50 or more.

The district also is looking at random drug testing for student drivers.

No decisions were made, but Sheats said a poll from the district's Web site showed that 51.61 percent of parents strongly agreed with the idea, 16.13 agreed, 6.45 disagreed and 25.81 percent strongly disagreed.

Sheats said driving to school and parking on-site is a privilege and that random drug testing is allowable by the courts if it is applied to student privileges, like athletics.

"Right at the moment we only randomly test our athletes and our cheerleaders," said Sheats. "Student drivers who are under the influence have a great potential to cause damage.'

Sheats also noted that the administration is considering uniforms for gym classes. Uniforms would allow students to move safely and identify them as Susquenita students, he said. Ideally, the uniforms also would promote school pride.

Sheats said the idea, if approved by the board, would be phased in over two to four years, likely starting with fifth- and ninth-graders.

Sheats added that cost would be considered. The district's bulk buying power probably would bring the cost of the uniforms to, at most, $17.

"We would not be interested in making any money. We would buy shorts and shirts and sell them at cost to parents.' Sheats added, "We believe we can get that fee much less than $17.'